by Gordon, Lucy
“You said something like that on the night you threw me out.”
“I didn’t throw you out,” he snapped. “I just said I’d had enough of your sleeping around, and if you didn’t change your ways, we were through. I’d have tried to patch it up, for Georgy’s sake. But when I came home, you were gone.”
“Sure I was. I couldn’t live with a man who hated me.”
“I never hated you, I just—Oh, the devil! What’s the use of going through all that again?”
“You sure as hell didn’t love me anymore by then.”
“Don’t play that game with me, Elsie, because I’ve got more ammunition than you have. You never loved me at all. You married me for what you thought I was worth, and the only reason you stuck with me so long was because I was worth more every year.”
“And what did Kaye marry you for? Love? No way. I know how you broke up her wedding. She’d barely known you five minutes.”
“There are gaps in your knowledge, Elsie. Kaye and I first met six years ago.”
“Oh, please, I’m going to throw up. Next you’ll be telling me she was in love with you for six years—six years, for God’s sake!—and fell at your feet as soon as you turned up again. Get real. She needed another rich man for the sake of that pretty brother of hers.”
“I think we’d better not discuss this,” Jack said quietly. “I want you to leave.”
“Fine. I’m on my way to see Georgy anyway.”
“I don’t want you going to my home tonight.”
“Try to stop me.” She turned and flounced out.
Jack ground his teeth, realizing that she was right. He slammed shut the door of his office and caught up with her by the elevator.
“Going to give me a lift?” she asked pertly. “Or must I hire a cab?”
“You can come with me,” he said grimly. “I feel safer where I can keep my eye on you.”
“Why, Jack, what a charming invitation.”
He could tell that she was in high good humor at having disconcerted him. He clamped his mouth shut. His mood was murderous, and he didn’t feel safe speaking to her.
When they’d driven for ten minutes in silence Elsie said, “Aren’t you going to call your little wife? It wouldn’t be fair to catch her unprepared.”
He’d been thinking the same thing, but her jeering tone drove him to retort, “Kaye’s not like you, Elsie. I can rely on her totally, and I never have to worry about what I’m going to find when I get home.”
“My poor Jack! What a bore!”
“Cut it out. You wouldn’t understand a woman like Kaye.”
“If she’s a woman, I understand her. We all have our own agenda. She’s just more subtle than most in the way she presents it.” When he didn’t reply, she tittered. “Nothing to say? Oh, dear, did I hit a nerve?”
He would have died rather than admit that she had. Her words, coming so soon after Rhoda’s, made his skin crawl. It was a moment before he could bring himself to speak.
“Now I think of it, I’m glad you’ll catch Kaye unaware. You’ll see things as they really are, see what kind of a home she makes for Georgy—a safe, decent home where she can live like a teenager, instead of being exposed to the kind of rotten crowd she met with you. Sneer all you want. I’m proud of my wife, and that’s something I could never say when I was married to you.”
That, he was glad to find, silenced her.
At last he swung into the drive at Maple Lodge, and headed for his usual place in the double garage. Subconsciously he noticed that something was different tonight, but he was too preoccupied with his thoughts to give it much attention.
The front door opened and Kaye came out to meet him, checking a little when she saw Elsie, but greeting her with determined politeness. “We all thought you were still in Monte Carlo,” she said, smiling.
“You mean you hoped I was. I want to see Georgy.”
“I wish you’d given us a little warning. She’s in bed.”
Because Kaye was alive to every nuance of Jack’s behavior, she saw his quick sigh of relief. She’d looked forward to this meeting all day, ever since awakening to find him gone. It had been disappointing not to find in him now any of the beautiful awareness that had possessed her all day, but she put that down to Elsie’s presence.
“Bed, at half past ten?” Elsie exclaimed. “Don’t tell me she agreed to that without argument.”
“Actually, it was her idea,” Kaye said. “I think she’s started a cold.”
“My poor little girl. Aren’t you looking after her properly?”
“A girl of her age ought to be in bed by this hour,” Kaye said, refusing to be disconcerted. “It’s what I try for every night. Sometimes I even manage it.”
Again there was the reaction on Jack’s face, this time closer to triumph. She thought she could guess what they’d been talking about. Her spirits soared. It was for a moment like this that Jack had married her, and she was going to come through for him.
“Well, I’ve come a long way and I want to see her,” Elsie insisted.
“Of course,” Kaye said at once. “I’ll go and awaken her. Perhaps you’d like some tea while you wait.”
Elsie’s eyes snapped. “You think you’re so clever, coming the lady hostess over me.” There was real hatred in her tone.
Kaye understood. Elsie was furious at finding no trouble to stir. Kaye’s blood was up, and she felt it would be a pleasure to bring Georgy down, sleepy and virtuous, so that Elsie could see for herself how useless was her venom.
“Wait here,” she said, and left the room.
Rhoda was passing through the hall as Kaye appeared. “Where are you off to in such a hurry?” she said.
“Elsie’s here. I’m going to fetch Georgy.”
“But she’ll be asleep by now.”
“It won’t hurt her, and Elsie is her mother.”
“No, wait.” Rhoda laid a hand on her daughter’s arm. “Why should you jump to attention every time that woman turns up? It makes me mad. You should stand up for yourself more.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Kaye said, touched by Rhoda’s unexpected show of concern, “but I think I’d better give in about this. I know Jack doesn’t want Elsie to be able to say we’ve been keeping Georgy from her.”
“Nonsense, tell her she can’t just march in here. She ought to make an appointment. In fact, I’ll tell her myself.”
She began to head for the living room, and Kaye was forced to place a restraining hand on her mother’s arm. She was puzzled. It was strangely unlike Rhoda to take up the cudgels on her daughter’s behalf. Yet even then Kaye had no suspicion of the truth.
“Leave it, Mom,” she said. “Let’s just get this over with.”
She ran the rest of the way upstairs, leaving Rhoda staring after her. She didn’t look back, and so failed to see her mother’s expression full of dismay.
She knocked lightly on Georgy’s door, but there was no response from within. After a moment she went in and approached the bed without putting on the light.
“Georgy,” she said softly, “wake up.”
Suddenly she became aware of the silence where there ought to have been breathing, and snapped on the light. The bed was empty. So was the room.
Chapter Ten
As Kaye stood, frozen with dismay, looking around Georgy’s empty room, Rhoda’s face came into her mind, and all the warning lights she’d failed to see before started flashing. It couldn’t be true. And yet she knew it was.
“Mom.”
Rhoda had slipped into the room behind her and was frantically shushing her. “Just keep quiet and nobody need know,” she said.
“Where’s Georgy?” Kaye demanded, her eyes kindling.
“Don’t make a fuss. She only wanted a night out. You never give that girl any freedom.”
Kaye’s horror was mounting every moment. “Where is she, Mom? And where’s Paul?”
“He took her out for a little bit of fun.”
“Th
ey slipped out behind my back,” she breathed. “And you knew. How could you do it?”
Jack appeared in the doorway. “What’s taking so long? Where’s Georgy?”
Kaye forced herself to face her husband. “She’s not here. She made me think she was going to sleep and then she crept out of the house.”
“Alone?” Jack’s voice was sharp.
“No,” Kaye said in despair. “With Paul.”
As soon as he heard with Paul, Jack understood what had been strange about the garage. Kaye’s car was missing.
“Where are they?” he asked in a hard voice.
“They just went for a little drive,” Rhoda said petulantly.
“Where?” Jack’s voice was harsher than Kaye had ever heard it.
“I don’t know,” Rhoda said with a shrug.
“What’s up? What are you all whispering about?”
Everyone turned at the sound of Elsie’s voice in the doorway. Her sharp eyes took in the whole scene, including the fact that there was no sign of Georgy.
“Where’s my little girl?” she demanded. Her voice rose to a theatrical shriek. “Where is she?”
“Calm down, Elsie,” Jack began.
“I’ll calm down when I see my daughter. You can’t keep her from me. Where are you hiding her?”
“Oh, shut up, you stupid woman!” Rhoda said. “Nobody’s hiding her. She’s gone out with my son. What’s wrong with that?”
Elsie turned on her, her eyes glinting at the sight of an old foe. “What’s wrong with that is that it’s eleven o’clock, Georgy is only a child and your son is a crook.”
“Who do you think you are, calling my boy names?”
“There’s a few names I’d like to call him. Does he know she’s underage?”
“Of course he knows,” Kaye said. “I promise you, Paul would never do her any harm—”
“He already has, snatching her from her bed like that—”
“Snatched, my eye!” Rhoda scoffed. “You don’t think he had to force that little madam, do you? She may be underage but she doesn’t look it, and she certainly doesn’t act it. And who’s fault is that?”
“Your daughter’s!” Elsie said triumphantly. “Since she’s the one looking after her.” She swung around to Jack. “All that stuff I had to listen to—how Georgy had ‘a safe, decent home.’ And how Kaye was so reliable that you never had to worry about what you’d find.”
Kaye flinched at these words. Jack had paid her a tribute on the very night she’d let him down.
“Perhaps you should have been a bit more worried,” Elsie went on remorselessly. “Little Miss Prim and Proper here’s such a ruddy wonderful guardian that she’s only let my little girl run off with her criminal brother.”
“Cut that out,” Jack told her harshly. “Don’t forget I arrived in Monte Carlo to find her alone in the house with Henri, a man with some very sinister connections.”
“But she was at home, wasn’t she? Not out in some sleazy dive.”
“We don’t know she’s anywhere bad,” Kaye said desperately. “They might have gone to a movie.”
“And pigs might fly. That lowlife has taken her to a nightclub, I’ll bet.”
“You watch your tongue,” Rhoda said, incensed.
“Who are you to give me orders?”
Sam and Bertie had slipped in, unnoticed by anyone. They watched the growing battle between the two women, their eyes gleaming.
“My money’s on yours,” Sam murmured. “She’s got a nasty temper.”
“Don’t call Rhoda mine,” Bertie growled. “I wouldn’t have her as a gift.”
“But she’s going to make mincemeat out of Elsie,” Sam pointed out. “And that’s something I’m going to enjoy.”
Rhoda was living up to his expectations. “I’ll give you more than orders,” she raged. “Talking about my son like that. I know what you are. I’ve heard the stories—drunken parties, men young enough to be your son, bringing your daughter up to be as degenerate as yourself. Is it any wonder she’s out till all hours, dragging my innocent boy with her?”
Elsie gave a scream of laughter. “Innocent, my eye! I’ve danced with that lad. You can tell everything about a man by dancing with him, and I mean everything. If he’s innocent, I’m a Mata flaming Hari.”
“Why, you evil-tongued old—”
“Who the hell are you calling old?”
Sam and Bertie cheered like spectators at a prizefight. But Kaye had no time to enjoy the humor of the situation. She was sick at heart at having failed Jack so badly, and a certain suspicion was tearing at her. She darted away to her own room and went to the wardrobe where she kept Georgy’s confiscated dress. Her worst fears were realized. It was missing.
Jack had followed her. “What is it?” he asked tensely.
“She bought a dress recently—bright red and cut very tight. I told her to return it, but it got torn. I brought it in here, but it’s missing. If she’s wearing that—oh, Jack, I—”
“Never mind,” he said quickly. “We’ll have the postmortems later. The first thing is to find them. Let’s go quickly. I don’t want Elsie trying to come with us.”
As they left the house they could still hear the sound of raised voices from Georgy’s room. In a short time Jack was swinging the car around and down the drive.
“They could be anywhere,” Kaye said wretchedly.
“We’ll try The Shining Star. They’ve heard of it because yesterday Bertie and Sam were telling the story of the night we chased them.”
“I should have known there was something fishy when Georgy chose to go to bed early,” Kaye said miserably. “She never does that.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” Jack said. “She’s as cunning as a cartload of monkeys.”
Soon the glaring neon sign came into view. Jack parked right in front and they went in together. “Let’s do this quietly,” he said. “We’ll enter as normal customers, and look around without attracting attention.”
Kaye agreed. She was on edge, overwhelmed by how deeply she’d failed Jack, and although he’d said little so far, she knew he must be disappointed in her. She wasn’t sure if she was more afraid of finding the young couple or not finding them.
In fact, they saw them almost at once. They were on the dance floor, gliding around smoochily, laughing into each other’s eyes. Georgy was in the red dress, which sparkled as she moved. Her hair was swept up in a sophisticated style, her face was heavily made-up, and she looked ten years older than she was. Kaye saw the grim look about Jack’s mouth. For once he was simply an outraged father.
They stayed back in the shadows until the youngsters had danced close to the edge of the floor. The music was coming to an end and they heard Georgy say, “Let’s dance some more.”
“Something to eat first,” Paul replied. “Then we can—” He finished with a sharp intake of breath as he saw who was waiting for him.
“Paul, what are you...? Daddy!”
“There’s no need for any trouble,” Jack said quietly. “We’re all going to leave together right now.”
Even Georgy wasn’t going to rebel against a certain note she heard in her father’s voice. She gave them both a defiant glance, tossed her head and stalked out in front. Paul gave Kaye the sheepish look she knew so well. For once the sight didn’t melt Kaye’s heart.
“She just wanted to enjoy herself,” he pleaded, “and she kept on at me to bring her here.”
“Not very gallant to blame the lady,” Kaye said coldly.
She turned on her heel and walked out, Paul trotting after her. “You know better than to bring a young girl to this place.” She flung the words over her shoulder.
She pushed open the door into the street. Paul had to run to keep up with her. “Oh, come on, sis, don’t make a fuss. There’s no harm done.”
Suddenly Kaye lost her temper and turned on him. “How dare you talk like that! Harm? You’ve no idea! Elsie turned up, demanding to see Georgy, and found her missi
ng. Think of the ammunition you’ve given her! She called you ‘that low-life,’ and she was right.”
“She’s got a nerve!”
“It’s not all she called you, and for once I agree with her.”
“Oh, really? Well, I could tell you a thing or two about Madam Elsie. It may suit her to call me names now, but at your wedding she was all over me. Surely a handsome lad like me had a girlfriend? Didn’t I know that older women had a lot to offer?”
“Shut up! You’re disgusting!”
“All right, but I’m not the only one.”
“Kaye, are you coming?” Jack called from the car.
“In a moment,” she called. “I have some unfinished business here.” She turned back to Paul. “You had no right to take my car, Paul. I want the keys back.”
“Well, I—”
“This minute!”
“Sure.” He handed them to her. “Perhaps it’s best if you drive.”
But she began to walk, not in the direction of her own car, but toward Jack. Georgy was already in the back seat, slumping down in a sulk. Kaye got in the front beside Jack and reached across him to touch the lock that secured every door. Paul, coming up close behind her, found the car locked against him.
“Hey, what about me?” he called.
Kaye wound down her window. “I don’t want you in this car. I don’t want you in my home. I don’t want to see or hear from you again for a long time. Do I make myself plain?”
“All right, let me drive your car.”
“Get lost, Paul. Just get lost. I’ve had it with you.”
“But how am I to get back?” he wailed.
“Walk. Not to Maple Lodge, because I won’t let you in. You can walk right back home.”
“But it’s miles and miles.”
“Good. It’ll give you something to think of besides your own selfishness.”
“Just one night, and I’ll leave in the morning.”
“Paul, watch my lips. I don’t want to see you at Maple Lodge again, and neither does Jack—do you, Jack?”
This was so plainly an afterthought that, despite his anger, Jack couldn’t help grinning. But he didn’t answer. He was watching his wife with a curious look in his eyes.